


What have I done to you?

by a_cup_of_tea_1234



Category: Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard - Rick Riordan
Genre: Multi, My First Fanfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-09-26 06:49:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9872282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_cup_of_tea_1234/pseuds/a_cup_of_tea_1234
Summary: Loki likes to mess with his childrens personal life...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!  
> I used to be really annoyed at the lack of fanfictions in this fandom, but then I realised, that I had no rights to complain, because I was not contributing anything either. So I wrote my first fanfiction ever. Exciting! :)  
> I have finished writing, but I still need to edit it.  
> Also I have to warn you, that english is not my first language. I tried my best.  
> Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan.

Alex sat at her potter’s wheel and thought about what kind of object she could make today. If it was supposed to be a vase or something else, how to shape it, glaze it and colour it. She had so many ideas she just could not decide.

She took a wet piece of clay and began to knead it smooth. She felt contend sitting here in her room with her pottery, also she had to admit that she was starting to feel at home in Valhalla with floor nineteen, not that she would ever admit it of course. The other residents were idiots but Alex couldn’t help but liking them.

Mallory was cool she was strong, independent and violent. Alex could appreciate that kind of person. It was nice to talk to her and nothing in the world beat out the joy of teasing her about Halfborn. Or teasing Halfborn about Mallory, that was also good.

Halfborn was the greatest sparring partner she ever had…it was delightful to kill him.

T.J. was a good friend an intelligent and friendly fellow and an amazing fighter.

There was one thing that bugged her though. Lately she had developed a crush, which was very annoying. A crush on Magnus of all people. _Magnus_. Alex herself could not comprehend why, he was a super dork, a nerd. He was that kind of person that would not hurt a fly, the kind of person that was so incredible nice, that it made everyone around them either feel plain horrible or made them want to puke. He made terrible jokes. He was an idiot.

He was pretty, that Alex could admit. She supposed that he there was no way a child with his genes could have turned out anything else but gorgeous. She had seen a picture of his mom once. She was a very pretty woman. And his father of course was a fertility god, known for his incredible beauty… There was just no denying that.

But it didn’t matter, because Alex never thought that she would fall for someone like him.

Sometimes she wandered if being the child of a fertility god magically made the people want to fuck you, because there was no way he was her type. No way.

That was what she told herself, because he absolutely wasn’t Alex’s type, except for the fact that he kind of was.

Dammit!

Alex usually was very careful not to lose her heart. Long ago she had accepted the fact that she would never find someone who loved her. She was the child of a god, which alone was enough to blow most mortal minds, on top of that she was the child of the god of evil, she was dangerous and constantly chased by monsters. She didn’t have an appealing personality. And even if she found someone who was able to deal with all of that, they would need to be pansexual or at least bisexual in order to want her. Which was, although not super rare, by far not the most common of sexual orientations. And even if she ever met someone like this. They still needed to fall for her and Alex needed to fall for them...

All in all the chances for her to find love were ridiculously small. Forget winning the lottery or being hit by lighting. Alex Fierro finding true love, that was the real shit.

That was why this crush was plain annoying waste of time. She was angry at herself for letting it happen in the first place.

The clay in her hands was smooth by the time she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in" She yelled.

The door opened to reveal T.J. His face was flushed, but he was grinning. He took one look at Alex and started to giggle.

"Hi Alex" He sounded like he had run here.

"What do you want?" Alex asked.

"Oh, yeah…" T.J. was defiantly holding back a lough attack now.

"I just thought that I should warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

"Ahh, you see Mallory and Magnus had this bet and he lost it."

"I see," Alex said "What has this to do with me?"

"Well, he has lost it and now he has to do what Mallory tells him to."

"I still don’t see the connection to me."

"Mallory is making him go here and…," He paused "You will see for yourself, just take it with humour, will you?"

T.J. headed for the door.

"Hold up!" Alex yelled after him "What is Mallory making him do?"

He looked back at her still grinning from ear to ear.

"Mallory will kill me if I tell you _everything_." And with that he was gone.

Alex only had to wait five minutes to find out what T.J. had been talking about.

She opened the door after she heard the soft knock.

Magnus stood in front of it, his face coloured pink with a deep blush. In his hands a beautiful red rose.

"Alex" He said.

"Magnus" She said.

His blushed deepened.

"I…I wanted to ask… if…if." He stuttered

"Yes?"

He took a deep breath, and held the rose out for her to take.

"I wanted to ask if you would like to go on a date with me."

Alex could only stare at him. It made sense, Mallory would love this kind of prank. She had to admit that she was kind of impressed that Magnus had the guts to go through with it.

The seconds passed.

"And what do you want me to say now?" Alex managed at last.

Really, what was she supposed to say at that. This was no more than a prank and they both knew it. What do you say in a situation like this?

The colour of his blush drained from Magnus face, leaving him pale around the nose. He took his hand back and instead cradled the rose to his chest.

"Well…either yes or no" His voice was very small.

"Why?" Had he not fulfilled his stupid bet by now?

"That are the common answers to the question."

Magnus had of course no idea what it would mean to Alex to be asked on a date by Magnus. But to him this was no more than an annoying dare he had to do. He would never ask her for real, never buy a rose like this simply because he liked her. That hurt. That hurt a lot.

"You are not asking me for real, you don’t like me, why would I need to answer the question."

He stared at her.

"Of course I like you, why would I…I love you, Alex!"

Everything stopped for Alex. He didn’t just say… She could not believe the nerve of him. Who the fuck takes a prank this far? This was far beyond the point where >funny< ended. Anger took over her body.

This was the first time in her short miserable live she had ever heard those four words >I love you, Alex< and although she didn’t expect to ever hear them. Hearing them like this was just… she found no words for it.

Those words might not mean much to Magnus, but they meant so much to her.

"Leave" she growled at him.

She retrieved a pot from a nearby shelf and threw it at him. She missed.

"Leave" She screamed again.

All blood had drained from his face, which was a mask of pure horror. He slowly retreated into the hallway, the rose falling from his fingers.

And then he was gone. Alex heard his door falling shut.

She stood there breathing hard. Anger and sadness were everything she could feel. She slowly picked up the rose. It was delicate and perfectly shaped. Like someone took a great deal of time choosing it. Its sweet scent tickled her nose.

Alex felt the tears coming. She ran into her room and slammed the door shut behind her. She was heartbroken, she was devastated and she allowed herself to cry, as she clutched the rose to her chest.

　

* * *

 

Alex didn’t see T.J walking down the corridor when Loki dropped this disguise and laughed as he disappeared.

Alex didn’t see the real T.J. sitting in his room playing assassins creed, he hadn’t noticed anything.

Alex didn’t see Magnus as he lay on his bed, staring motionless at the ceiling, his heart shattered into a million sharp-edged pieces.

 


	2. Chapter 2

When Alex entered the floor 19 lounge for breakfast the next morning Magnus would not look at her in the eyes. He kept talking to Mallory and Halfborn without acknowledging her presence. Stupid him, he had absolutely no reason to be angry at her! He was the one, who hurt Alex, not the other way around.

Also he was pale and had dark rings under his eyes. He looked like shit. Alex was glad. _He deserves it_.

They went to battle that day and all got killed early on.

It was the same on the next day.

For some reason or another no one mentioned that Magnus had asked her out for a date. She was surprised by that. She had expected for the both of them to be teased endlessly by Mallory and the rest of floor nineteen, but no one said a word about it.

In fact it was finally Mallory who asked why she and Magnus were so distant. She said it with such innocence, like she had nothing to do with it. Alex almost mauled her.

"We had a fight," Magnus said "it does not matter."

After that he returned his attention to his breakfast, although he barely ate anything at all.

Alex had hoped that her inconvenient crush on Magnus would go away, after he and Mallory played that prank at her. She was angry, she wanted to kill him. Under those circumstances it wasn’t unreasonable to lose her crush on him.

Sadly she didn’t lose her crush. The anger slowly left her and only a deep sadness remained, and a pain that flared up in her every time she saw him. She could not stop looking at him though, it hurt but he was so _beautiful_.

The days passed.

All the while Magnus still refused to look at her, he didn’t talk to her either.

Why he behaved like that was an absolute mystery to Alex and she still thought it to be a very asshole thing to do, but it also had it positive aspects. Most importantly she didn’t know, how she would be acting towards him, if he did try to talk to her. This way they could just ignore each other. That was easy. It still hurt though.

She slowly gave up hope, that she and Magnus could ever be friends again.

At one point floor nineteen got called into manager Helgi’s office.

"You are here to talk about the quest this summer. Loki is a thread to our entire existence and if he starts Ragnarok he will end it." He said.

"I understand, that this is not the first quest you went on, but it is the most important, the most dangerous one yet. The fate of all the nine realms depends on it, on you. You won’t have to do this without help, of course not, but this group will be the heart of the operation. I don’t need to tell you how much responsibility you are carrying. We have to plan this quest very carefully, which is why I have called for this strategic meeting. You will need all the advantage you can gain."

He raised one finger, like a teacher might do in school.

I want you to train and to study. I want you to not waste your time till summer. I want all of you to work together to achieve our victory. Only as a group you can make it. United. But I know that that won’t be a problem right?"

"No" They said in unison.

Alex caught Magnus staring at her. When she stared back he quickly looked away.

"Of course not." Helgi smiled "The bunch of you is glued together all the time anyways."

"But," He continued "This is not entirely about you. You see, since knowledge spread that you are going on the quest this summer quite a few einherjar have approached me and offered to go with you. I have decided, that this is a good idea. This quest is beyond anything that you have ever done and you will need an army. Also, if you die hopefully someone else will do the job."

"Charming" Alex muttered

"Only pragmatic" Helgi answered.

"I have decided, that all the volunteers will sail with you, for the sake of the nine worlds, you will need all the strength you can get. I expect you to be cooperative."

He turned to Magnus.

"I hope you can lead an army son of Frey."

Magnus swallowed.

"Now hurry up, or you will run late for dinner"

Helgi shooed them away.

　

That night after dinner, when Alex had returned to her room and had cuddled up on her bed with a book, someone knocked on her door.

When she opened it she was more than surprised to find Magnus. He was blushing and fixated the tips of his shoes.

"Hi Alex"

She waited.

"I wanted to say, that I am sorry and that I don’t want to lose you as a friend."

Now she was even more than surprised.

"I don’t want to lose you as a friend neither" She managed.

He smiled at her.

She held out her hand for him.

"Peace?"

He took a deep breath.

"Yeah"

And somehow, just like that they were back to what they were before Magnus had knocked on her door for the first time weeks ago.

That was great of course. Alex had missed his company, the smart comments and the dumb jokes. His smile, that was what she had missed the most.

But not everything was great, because unfortunately Alex still had this very unfortunate crush on Magnus and now that they were back to spending time in each other’s company the crush grew with every passing day.

Very annoying.

Alex didn’t know what she was supposed to do. She had tried so long to lose her crush, but it just didn’t work. Now that they were friends again she had of course the opportunity to seek his company. She knew that it was a dumb idea, that it would make her crush worse, but hey! She was Alex Fierro, she breathed crazy!

But seriously, she knew that she wanted to be near him. So much so that her heart ached when she even thought about how he smelled like smores and like freshly cut grass and how a touch from his body felt, which always radiated warmth. She was fucked. She knew that it was a bad idea but she knew she could not help herself. Fortunately she had the perfect excuse ready to touch Magnus.

　

They had movie night. Alex had informed his friends, that he was male today and T.J. had invited over all of floor nineteen them all over to his room, where they would watch the favourite films of all the members of their little group all night long. They would probably be killed quickly in combat tomorrow, because of their lack of sleep. But they had decided, that it would be worth it.

All of them had brought drinks and snacks as well as cozy blankets and pillows. They were ready for the perfect movie marathon.

Alex found himself sitting next to Magnus. That was purely a coincidence of course, in no way Alex had planned this, just because he had the chance to spend a night close to his crush. By the time the second film was playing Alex had scooted closer to Magnus, relishing his body warmth. He rested his head on his shoulder. It was a perfect fit. This was nice; oh indeed he could have stayed like this forever.

"What are you doing?" He asked him and promptly destroyed his fantasies regarding endless cuddles.

"I am using you as a pillow" He said. He was pretty proud of his firm voice.

"Why?" He sounded pained somehow.

"Psst" said Mallory "The movie"

"Friends cuddle" That was in fact true. At least he thought so.

"I see"

"Shut up, you two" Halfborn this time.

"Also I thought you liked me" He whispered in Magnus’s ear. He made sure that the tone of his voice was lighthearted. This statement needed to come across, as if he was teasing Magnus for that stupid dare of his.

He felt Magnus’s body go tense.

"Right" He finally caved "I see your point"

Alex smiled. It felt good to tease him. So good. It felt even better to cuddle him.

　

Alex had taken on a habit of touching Magnus whenever it was possible. She made sure to brush her hand against his when they were walking somewhere or when both of them were reaching for the same item during breakfast. (Might happen quite frequently, not that it was intentional, of course not.) She hugged him whenever it was appropriate (or less so). She gave him a playful shove every now and then.

Magnus skin was always warm even through his clothes she could feel it. And when she touched his skin she felt a tingle.

She just wanted to be near him she wanted more.

　

She finally kissed him during a game of truth or dare. Halfborn had given her the dare to do it, and she went through with it.

Actually that was not entirely true. They played a common, altered version of the game, in which the person who was dared to do something got three choices of dare and only had to go through with one.

Alex had to choose between jumping into the dragon pit, going to flor 28 and calling a particularly mean einherji named Andrew a list of horrible nicknames and well … kissing Magnus.

Probably none of the players did expect her to choose the last one, but when she heard Halfborn dare her to kiss Magnus…well, it was much too good of a chance to pass by.

She had dreamed so long of kissing him, but she would never get a chance to be with him. So maybe this was her only chance.

She bit her lip. _I wonder how Magnus kisses, I bet he is a good kisser… he has to be with those lips…_ she mentally slapped herself. She would go over to him, kiss him and if she got lucky it would be horrible and she would lose this ridiculous crush. After that she would explain, how it would have been inconvenient for the game to have to go all the way to the dragon pit and how a kiss like this was actually no big deal at all.

The realisation of what she was about to do settled in her gut. Her breath quickened, her hands were sweating.

Alex liked her plan.

She stood and made her way over to Magnus. She kneeled in front of him.

Magnus eyes grew wide with realisation.

"Alex…" He didn’t finish his sentence.

She didn’t know how to interpret his voice or the look in his eyes. Defeat? A plea? That could not be true though, as both emotions didn’t make any kind of sense. Like at all.

Halfborn on the other hand looked surprised and a bit disappointed.

"Wait. You are going to kiss him?" He said "That is not fair."

"The rules, baby" Mallory answered "That are the rules"

"But I never thought she would choose THAT" He protested "I wanted to see her as dragon food…"

Halfborn sounded like a child being denied his ice cream.

"Shout up" Mallory showed him "We get to see Beantown and Cheetah-girl smooch! That’s even better! T.J. you have to tape it!"

Alex ignored them. Her heart was now beating much faster than it was supposed to. She thought it might burst out of her chest. _I am going to kiss Magnus! I will finally kiss him!_

She leaned in slowly and tilted her head to the side, ever so slightly. The distance between their lips shrank more and more. _Oh gods. Oh my gods. This is happening._ Her eyes fluttered shut.

It was then that their lips touched and Alex’s frantically beating heart stopped.

There was nothing anymore, nothing except for Magnus and his skin under her fingers and his lips on hers _his lips, oh his lips_. They were soft, softer than she ever imagined them but they were pleasingly firm at the same time. Like silk, or the petals of a rose only better so much better. His lips were sending shivers down her spine and blood rushing to her groin.

Her heart stuttered in an erratic rhythm.

She had not realised that she was cold until she had kissed him, touched him and now had a taste of his warmth. She was drowning that was it and he was the last breath of air she would ever have. His lips that at first were unmoving beneath her hat at some point started to caress hers in return.

 _So good._ She would have been entirely happy to just stay here forever in this wonderful place of heaven forever.

It was then that Halfborn catcalled.

Alex barely heard it, but Magnus jerked away breathing hard. The cold came rushing, she immediately missed Magnus. The emotion was so extreme that she had to hold in her tears.

Her surroundings came into focus again: T.J. and Mallory and Halfborn were all laughing and having the time of their lives; the game of truth or dare and the fact that she and Magnus really were nothing more than friends.

"Why did you do this?" Magnus asked her. He didn’t sound amused.

That’s right he doesn’t like me that way he never could. Now get yourself together.

"Well Magnus, because if we spent half an hour going all the way to the dragon pit, only to get me killed, I would not get to see you being subjected to another hilarious dare." She said "That would be a shame and much more painful than this. Get yourself together. It’s just a game, its funny."

"Funny" He echoed.

"Yes funny, it is when-"

"WHAT?!" Mallory interrupted them "T.J. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DIDN’T TAPE THIS??"

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

 


	3. Chapter 3

Floor nineteen had become a pretty busy place. When they didn’t train they were busy making plans. Mallory had announced that she would make a warrior out of Magnus, who had been visibly miserable ever since.

Halfborn kept complaining that he had no time at all for knitting anymore.

The longer they thought about what they were going to have to do next summer, the more impossible it seemed.

But there were also bright sides, beacons of hope. At random times, every now and then someone or a group of someones stood in their hallway and told them, that they wanted to join the quest. Sometimes Alex knew the recruits by their name or by sight, sometimes the einherjar were entirely strangers to her.

It didn’t matter though. Every time someone new joined their cause she felt ridiculously happy. It made her feel hope. These people were aware of thread the worlds faced and they were willing to help. They were not alone.

As a result their quiet lounge had started to become a popular hangout place for an ever growing number of people. Everyone had their very own input to the task they were facing.

Alex liked that as well. Most of the ideas were rubbish of course, but every now and then someone would have a good suggestion. These were the moments, when Alex felt, that maybe just maybe they could do this. That maybe their quest wasn’t entirely impossible.

They started to practise battle formations on land and as well as on water.

"There is no way we are going to fit everyone in one boat." Halfborn announced one day.

It was a quite random statement, as they were sitting over breakfast and talking about Blitzen’s best spring collection. It didn’t matter much either as the question if they took one or two boats was a minor one. But it made Alex realise how big this quest was going to be, how grand.

Loki had an army coming for him; maybe not all hope was lost.

　

Time flew by, and suddenly it was June and they were due to start their quest.

They launched the boats from Boston harbour and took off towards the northeast.

Alex stood next to Mallory at the railing of their front ship and admired the sight. The morning sun bathed everything in beautiful colours, while six longships and almost hundred einherjar sailed to fight the treat that was Loki. She felt confident at the sight. She was not alone. They were strong and they had a chance to win.

They first moved north following the coast from Boston until they could cross over to Greenland. The Vikings in ancient times had come the very same way. Then they had to sail around Greenland in the south.

The days passed. It was lucky the ships were magical; otherwise the trip would have taken months. And they would have to row. Alex supposed it was a positive aspect to the magical world. No sane person would want to row.

She got a real good view of the beautiful landscape as well. She felt a bit like a tourist.

The einherji passed their time with training and various games. None of which were to the death, as they could actually die. It had been a bit trouble to enforce this rule though. Most of the Vikings didn’t think of anything as fun, which was not done to the death.

Alex had to work to prevent a lot of accidental fights to the death ("Ooops, I forgot that we can die!")

And she had participated in some of the most creative rounds of black stories ever. She had never known that there were so many ridiculous ways to die. The Vikings suggestions were most of the time even more horrific and weird than the actual stories, which was impressive.

After they rounded Greenland they headed into the open waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Their next stop was Iceland.

Their journey was mostly an easy one. They run into the occasional sea monster, but nothing they could not handle.

The self-destructive tendencies of the einherjar, that involved accidentally almost killing each other, or showing each other overboard into the water that despite the fact that it was summer was so cold that they occasionally passed an iceberg, were more dangerous to them.

　

When they reached Iceland they agreed to get pizza.

They all wanted a pause from the food they had taken from Valhalla.

A guy named Lars ran around with a writing pad and a pen, asking everyone what kind of pizza they wanted. Alex ordered pepperoni. Halfborn next to her ordered two pizzas instead of one, which earned him a slap from Mallory.

"What? I am a big guy! I eat that much!"

A girl that had lived in Iceland, when she was alive, got the job of ordering. The phone was on speaker, so they could all hear the conversation. Alex didn’t know Icelandic but she could very good imagine the conversation. After all they ordered over a hundred pizzas. It was fun to hear the pizza-guys voice go from bored to confused to "help it’s a full grown flash mob"-panic in under a minute.

The warriors who understood the conversation snickered around her. Alex wished she knew what exactly was said.

A few hours later they had gone to shore and watched the pizza delivery truck drive towards their kinda-but-not-really-camp.

The driver came to a stop, at the side of the road. His colleague jumped out of the car, gesticulated to them and said something to the driver, who frowned and handed him what seemed to be money.

"The driver betted that it was a joke, ordering a hundred pizzas somewhere into the wild, and that no one would be here; the other guy said otherwise." Someone in the row behind Alex translated.

The lucky winner of the bet waved at them with a huge smile on his face, while the other one still sat in the car and gaped.

The same girl, who had ordered now talked to the delivery guy.

"She says, that we are on a school trip."

Before long Alex had gotten her pizza. She sat on a patch of grass, where she could see the ocean. It was nice to be a part of a group like this, she felt contend. The next day they sailed for Norway.

　　

* * *

 

　　

_Alex was lost; she wandered over a battlefield full of crows. This was not Valhalla. This was somewhere else. This was real. In the distance a mountain range rose into the clouds. The grass between her feet was trampled down and spiked with arrows. The air was cold, she could see white clouds when she was breathing. She could not remember how she had come to be in this place. Who fought whom? Who were the dead?_

_She kneeled down by the side of a fallen solider. She knew that face. It was this one guy from floor 34 who joined with them on their quest and only made the worst jokes. She took a sharp intake of breath; she felt the panic starting to take over. All the dead, they were her fellow einherjar, the entire quest…_

_"Now you see."_

_Her mother had appeared behind her._

_"All of them dead and it’s your fault"_

_Alex started to walk backwards._

_"You could have saved them, but you didn’t. You let them die. But I won’t be ungrateful, after all now my way is free of any kind of disturbances."_

_Loki gave a cruel smile._

_Alex heart beat so fast in her chest, panic and grief took her over._

_Over there she saw Mallory’s red hair. She lay in Halfborn’s arms a spear had impaled the both of them. The worries who loved each other, till the last of their days._

_"You have been a very good child."_

_She wanted to run too Halfborn and Mallory check if there was still hope, but deep in her heart she knew there was none._

_She began to sob. She could not hold back her tears anymore, she cried for her beloved friends, for the world for everything that was lost. Forever._

_Loki pulled a sword from his belt._

_"As I said, you have been a very good child, but know you must understand, I have no use for you anymore."_

_Alex wanted to run, but just as she tried, she tripped over one of the corpses and fell._

_Loki approached her, his sword raised._

_The corpse she had fallen over was male, blond and strangely familiar. No Alex thought NO._

_She wanted to turn the corpse around, look at his face. Maybe ten feet between her and the sword that would end her._

_"Alex" a voice said._

_"Alex, please" The voice didn’t seem to come from Loki. But there were no other people in sight._

_"Alex" The battleground started to sway beneath her. She couldn’t see it clearly anymore._

_"ALEX, wake up!"_

She opened her eyes, and was greeted by the sight of worried grey eyes, staring into her own. Magnus hovered above her.

"It’s alright Alex" he said "It was only a dream, it was not real"

Just a dream… Alex heart was beating so fast; in her chest she thought he might hear it. She was breathing hard. Just a dream…Relieve flooded her body.

But the horrors of the dream still with her. When she closed her eyes, she still saw the battlefield. Tears started to well up in her eyes and she could not hold them back.

Magnus touched her arm, and rubbed it in a comforting gesture.

"Just a nightmare" he told her ", it is gone now you are save"

Alex could only cry harder, because the dream had been everything she feared and because it was so real and it could become reality easy enough as their quest progressed.

She pulled herself to Magnus’s chest and held onto him for dear life. He was so warm, so alive.

At first she felt Magnus’s body stiffen beneath her, as if he didn’t know what to make of her hug, but then he relaxed and laid down with her. He held her in a firm hug, as she cried into his shirt.

"It’s okay. I am with you. All of us are with you."

His right hand stroked through her hair, then rubbed circles on her back, a soothing gesture.

"Just a dream, it was just a dream" He continued his mantra.

They laid like this for a while, Magnus was right, the dream had been just a dream, everyone was alive and well. Loki was far away and he hadn’t hurt her. She could feel Magnus’s heartbeat right under her cheek.

"You were dead" She whispered "all of you dead, the entire quest dead everything lost and then there was Loki, and he had a sword…"

Magnus arms around her tightened

"We won’t let it happen; we won’t let it come to that. You hear me?"

"You don’t know that."

"That we beat ourselves up about it, that is what he wants. We can make it, for us and these worlds we have to make it."

He sounded desperate.

"Magnus?"

"Yes?"

"Would you stay with me? Tonight I mean?"

He paused.

"Of course," he finally said "if it makes you feel better."

Alex smiled.

 

 

　

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, Long chapter!  
> As I wrote this chapter I discovered that I despise writing action sequences.

They were somewhere out on the ocean, when the sea monster attacked. It was of course not the first sea monster, but it was the largest. The sea serpent was longer than all their ships, if lined up in a row. It was a dark grey colour and as thick, as a larger SUV.

"MONSTER! SEAMONSTER! OVER THERE!"

The einherji who was on watch duty had been the one to spot it first. He shouted from the top of their biggest ships mast. He pointed towards the North, North-East.

The einherjar on all ships ran to the northern railing. Alex felt the ship tilting in said direction. But it was her fault as well as she had gained a position in the first row. She held a hand up to shield her eyes and spot the monster in the waves.

That was when she saw the serpent. Indeed it was the largest seamonster Alex had ever seen.

It weaved its way through the waves about four ship-lengths away from where Alex stood. It circled its way around their little fleet; heading south, where it turned away from them and increased the distance.

The group of gaping heroes had followed its movement, anxious as they expected an attack but also kind of fascinated by the power and deadly beauty of the monster.

Only one voice was shouting, disrupted the tense silence.

"Stop staring like a bunch of morons and get your weapons you craven idiots"

Alex didn’t see who was saying such, as whoever was located on another ship and she didn’t recognise the voice without further clues, but she agreed with them. _The only sane person present, this thing will kill us all._

She had barely finished formulating that thought as the serpent turned around, lifted its head out of the water 20 feet high and hissed loudly.

This hiss was lout aggressive and left Alex with absolutely no doubts regarding the deadly intentions of the monster. In a seconds notice the charm that had prevented all the einherjar from moving broke and everyone, Alex as well, rushed to gather their weapons.

They hadn’t assumed battle position yet when the sea-serpent, fast as a lighting strike went for the dragon boat located left and slightly behind the one Alex was on.

The monster slammed his head against it, at full speed. If the boot had not been magically enchanted it would have broken in half. Then the monster dove beneath the waves, where they could not locate it anymore.

The archers hooked in their arrows and all the other einherjar who possessed any kind of long-range weapon similarly readied to shoot. Silence fell on the group as they waited for the serpent to appear again.

After about half a minute the einherjar had spent in tense silence awaiting the attack that would inevitably follow the serpent burst out of the water, only fifty feet away from them and roared in anger. The sound made the ship planks vibrate beneath Alex’s feet.

The archers shoot their arrows at the monsters head. She saw T.J. who stood a few feet from her fire his rifle. Most projectiles hit the monster scales that were like a panzer, they bounced off without having done any damage, but some of them found the monsters joints. The creature shrieked in pain.

Suddenly a golden glow emanated them. It was Magnus who glowed in a gentle light with his Frey magic. The light engulfed all the ships. It was warm and gentle.

The monster squinted at the light, like monsters tended to do when Magnus uses his powers. It was not enough to hurt it, but it didn’t approach the ships again swaying back and forth as the arrows rained down on it.

Alex herself picked up a bow and shot at the monster. Archery was never her strength, she learned to fight with her garrotte and she would always choose it over any other weapon. Nonetheless she figured she could fire a bow at a target as large as the enemy they were facing.

She hooked in an arrow, pulled back and fired. Her arrow joined the swarm of deadly objects, aimed against the serpent.

Where the projectiles had hurt it green blood gushed out of the serpent, mixing with the waves of the ocean.

The serpent thrust its body forward, again and again but every time it came to close to the glow of Magnus, it had to retreat.

The light was an aspect of Magnus power he used to activate as an accidental bi-product of his other magic, like when he healed someone, or when he closed the portal in the giants bowling alley. But as it repelled monsters it was a really useful thing all on its own.

The einherjar shoot at the monster until it finally sank back into the deep from where it came from.

They waited.

They waited a long time.

Alex squinted over the ship railing into the deep of the ocean, as they could not be sure if the monster was dead or if it was simply wounded and had fled.

The shouts of victory became louder and louder as more and more warriors confidence in their victory grew.

Alex felt relieve washing over her. Joy.

They had won, they had survived!

She turned to look at Magnus. He was still radiating this golden light of his. It swirled around him, creating a halo, and made him look like an angel. For a few seconds Alex was actually convinced that that was the case. Magnus was an angle that had come from heaven to safe them all. What other possibility was there for someone to be this perfect?

He was stunning. He was always stunning, but now especially so.

She regained control over her traitorous brain and calmly walked over to him.

"Hey Magnus, good game"

"You too, never knew you could shot a bow"

"I can’t"

He lifted an eyebrow.

"You literally fired an arrow at this monster and you didn’t miss."

"That was easy; you really did all the work."

He lifted his glowing hands so Alex could see them.

"I feel like a freaking lightbulb" he grinned "but it was good training, yeah"

"You only ever practised that particular stunt on lindworms, right?"

"Well we don’t have many other monsters in Valhalla, I super glad it worked though."

He smiled genuinely happy, an expression that made him look so incredible cute… it served to slowly loosen Alex control over her brain yet again.

Before she knew it she had flung herself in his arms and hugged him tight.

"Thank you Maggie" She whispered in his ear "You are a hero."

He hesitantly hugged her back, which hurt Alex a little bit. _Come on, it’s a hug! Nothing more! Friends hug all the time._

But then he fully hugged her back and she forgave him.

"Thanks Alex" He murmured against her hair "It means a lot to me that you think so."

That statement let the little hairs on her arms stand up. _You are a wreck Alex! HE. DOESN’T. LIKE. YOU!_

Alex chose to ignore that sentient part of her brain, she tilted her head to the side, so she could kiss his cheek. She did. Her heartbeat increased a thousand times. _How can skin be this soft?_

"Always here for you, Maggie"

She could feel him tense a little in her arms.

"I am glad to have you here Alex"

She remembered the last time she had kissed him. When she kissed him on the lips, how it had been so perfect, so warm.

What would happen if she kissed him for real? Would it feel like the last time, back at Valhalla? _Don’t do it! Why would you even do that?_ Sure it was a stupid idea Magnus would be mad. But the hole in her heart that grew every day she had to watch him from afar became overwhelming, now that she had him in her arms. She could always go back to her old excuse and make a bit fun of him. _You would ruin this moment._ No one would be hurt right? _Except for you Alex, it’s gonna make everything worse you know that?_

Alex twisted her head around a bit more so she could reach his lips. She kissed him. She just did. She could not help herself. He was too cute.

Their lips touched and Magnus let out a surprised yelp. Alex didn’t care though the moment her lips were on his her emotions exploded. The warm she had felt last time came rushing back in. His lips were oxygen, when there was none before. Ohhh, how she had missed this, how she had missed him. She had to fight back tears. She loved him. She loved him too much.

Someone catcalled in the background.

He didn’t kiss her back, not like last time. She was a bit disappointed in that, but she figured it was a miracle she hadn’t been showed away yet.

She felt him tremble slightly beneath her fingers.

The worry gave her the strength to pull away and face him. He stared at her through eyes opened almost comically wide.

Alex bit her lip.

If she was honest Magnus looked sad somehow, but that had to be wrong, it was an entirely un-rational emotion in this situation.

"Why?" He asked. He sounded breathless.

Because I love you, because I can’t control myself around you.

Alex closed her eyes for a second and gathered her inner strength.

She looked at him and lifted a finger, like a teacher might do.

"A kiss for good luck!" She managed an evil grin "Also…I just happened to remember that you like me."

He studied the tips of his boots, he looked somehow even sadder than before.

Oh dear, this boy has messed up emotions. Whatever. Just play cool.

She laughed. Pinched his cheek and turned to walk away. _OH.MY.GODS_

　

They eventually reached Norway, that were the good news, the bad news were the giant army awaiting them. The einherjar had sailed up a fjord and left the boats. They needed supplies and they were all desperate to get solid ground beneath their feet.

There was a decent sized town nearby and they all hoped it could provide them with food and directions and maybe entertainment. They were about to divide themselves into groups. That was when the giant army burst out of the forest.

The giants were plenty enough that they would be serious trouble for them, but they weren’t as many so that Loki could reasonably hope the einherjar would be defeated. Alex new that strategy. It was a mere warning by her mother, Loki’s way to welcome them. His way of showing them what was to come. He wanted to demoralise not kill; at least not kill _all_ of them.

On one side was the water of the fjord, on the other side were the giants, they had no choice but fight. And fighting was what they did.

Magnus managed to give a super-short speech before the giants attacked, about how everyone should remember their own strength and training; they should fight, but remember that they were vulnerable outside of Valhalla.

The speech was not bad given it was super improvised, but Magnus looked less than happy with the leadership Helgi had forced on him. He hated to fight and he hated war, Alex knew that. It made sense, as he was the child of the peace god. It was ironic in a way that he of all people was now the general.

She had not much time to muse about this however, as the giants had decided that standing and staring at them any longer would give away the advantage of surprise.

Soon Alex was caught up in the midst of battle and it was absolute chaos. The einherjar had no time for a battle-plan, the giants had not bothered. She was avoiding the enemy attacks and sliced through giants with her garrotte whenever she could. Time became meaningless. She fought back to back with TJ for some time, but a particularly nasty giant forced them to break apart and then the current of battle carried her away. She saved a boy from floor 34 and fought with him from then on. Together they came to the aid of a girl from 76, but soon she lost sight of those two as well. She sliced through the neck of an earth giant, another one tried to impale her with a spear, but she jumped to the side, transformed into a tiger and mauled him. When she was a human blood was running down her chin, it tasted horrible. Adrenalin cursed through her body. She felt the rush of battle, she felt brave. Two severed giant-legs later she caught sight of Mallory and Halfborn. They fought together in perfect harmony. It was a very impressive sight to behold.

On the down side it almost lost Alex her head, as she was to distracted watching her friends, that she didn’t see the giant with the sword. She was saved by a red haired boy, but she could not think of his name just then.

"Thanks" She told him.

He nodded at her and was gone the second after. She mentally slapped herself. _I can’t get distracted._ Everything was happening incredible fast. From that point on she only tried harder. Giant after giant fell by her hands. _I will show my mother that he can’t intimidate us._

She was just pulling a fellow warrior from beneath a fallen giant when Magnus appeared. Dirt and blood covered his armour, strands of blond hair had fallen out of his ponytail and his cheeks were flushed bright red. He just nodded at her, and kneeled down to heal the unconscious einherji. His hands glowed and the boys wound mended, he opened his eyes and grinned at them, than he threw himself back into battle.

Magnus stood. _Why does he have to look so good again?_ He took her hand and pulled her up. _Tonight I am fucking you._

"Tonight I am fucking you." She spoke the thought out loud, though she didn’t mean to.

The good thing was that she was so full of adrenaline that she wasn’t even embarrassed. Magnus opened his mouth, but he didn’t get to reply, the current of battle carried them apart before he could do so.

She turned around and focused on the enemy. She killed the giant before her with her garrotte and them she took of the foot of the next giant. She wrapped her garrotte around the waist of a third enemy, but the giant was yanked backwards by someone else and the garrotte flew from her hands. She could only turn around fast enough to see a forth giant running towards her a battle-ax raised high. All she could do was doge the blow. She felt vulnerable without her main weapon. Suddenly a hammer smashed her opponent’s skull; Alex had no idea who had thrown it. She crawled towards a pile of dead giants in which she hoped to find her garrotte. She searched on the ground between them thankful for the protection the corpses offered. Alex was about to panic, when finally her hand closed around one grip of her clay cutter. She stood, but when she did she saw that there were only a few giants left and those were currently being taken care of. The battleground was a wasteland of mud broken weapons and dead giants, but they had won.

They tended the wounded, which were more than Alex would like, but less Loki had surly hoped for.

They also found a map by the corpse of what must have been the giant’s leader. It showed the Norwegian coastline and Jotunheim and it showed how they would only need to sail north one more day to reach the icy harbours that were their destiny.

One little day, then they would make a camp, scout for Nagalfar and hopefully find a way to use their good Valhalla dynamite on it.

　

That night they stayed in the town, where the battle had happened. Alex was anxious to leave, but she understood the decision. Many of them were injured, they were all tiered. It would be dangerous to risk an encounter with another sea monster under these circumstances. Also they all craved a night in a real bed.

So they overtook a hotel. It was ridiculously easy, as they were able to control what the mortals saw. Magnus once told her, that that Greek cousin of his called it "controlling the mist", she supposed as a Norse she would have to say "controlling the essence of Ginnungagap" which did sound much more mystical and ominous, but on the other hand "mist" was soooo much easier to say.

There were almost enough rooms for all to have one, but not entirely. That didn’t matter though. Some people (like Mallory and Halfborn for instance) surly didn’t mind sharing a bed. Others had to stay in their make-shift infirmary anyway.

Alex had a room for herself, she was glad she did. After all that time on a boat with constant company she could use a few calm hours. She ate dinner and headed for her room, but left her door open. She could hear the other going to their rooms one by one.

At some point she realised that the she would not fit him anymore. Male.

Magnus was one of the last ones. He probably had been busy tending the wounded. He was after all the best healer they had, he hadn’t even changed out of his armour. Only his hands and arms were clean, Magnus must have been in a hurry. He looked tiered. Alex hadn’t considered before that, when the battle ended for him the real struggle only began.

He followed a gut feeling, when he left his comfy bed and followed Magnus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ohhhhh Alex is in trouble!  
> Also always Keep in mind, what poor Magnus must be thinking about her behaviour.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This escalates pretty quickly.   
> I think I should put in a smut warning. So here it is.

Magnus stood in the middle of his hotel room, his armour neatly folded on a chair beside him. He wore jeans, but no shirt, as he washed the remains of the battle from his upper body.

Alex figured, that it had to be the part of him, that was Norse deity that somehow found that incredible attractive.

He took his time to admire the sight before him

I will fuck you after this is over

That was what he had told magnus in the heat of battle. Alex had also meant it. He wanted to fuck him, preferably more than once. Even better: Fuck him, because he was his boyfriend and wrap his arms around him afterwards and never ever let go.

Sadly that was never going to happen, because magnus would never want him. How could he?

But that did not mean Alex wanted him less. He wanted him so much in fact, that the sight before him hurt.

Looking at magnus hurt, hearing his voice hurt and touching him hurt the most, but oh, not doing all this things hurt so much more.

And Alex knew he was on a self-destructive path, the way he stayed close to magnus and impossible far away from him at the same time. He knew that he only made it worse with the way he relived every smile and every touch and every kiss he managed to steal, by passing them off as some joke or another. Reliving them again and again and again. He knew he hurt himself but he couldn’t stop, even if he wanted to. He didn’t want to either because the end of the world was near and every touch of his skin to magnus might be the last chance to feel him he would ever get. So why avoid, the only happiness left for him?

That were all the reasons why Alex was about to do something incredible stupid. Something he knew he would regret only a few minutes later.

If he could steal a kiss without consequences, how much exactly could he steal?

Yep, he about to make the stupidest decision of his life, but it didn’t matter because tomorrow they would sail into their glorious deaths – yay!

The giants map said it was only one day to Jotunheim. Once they were there nothing would matter anymore as they would be, in all likelihood, dead.

He walked a few steps down the corridor and pulled of his own shirt. Go big or go home.

He returned and entered the room, Magnus’s door he closed behind him.

The cause of his pain and his desire turned around. His eyes flickered to Alex bare chest.

"Alex"

"Magnus"

"How can I help you?"

Magnus smiled at him, his beautiful smile.

Alex approached him, locked his arms around magnus naked upper body. The skin so soft beneath his fingers.

"I promised you something in battle."

"huh?"

"I promised you to fuck you tonight, remember?"

Alex let his hands wander down Magnus back, with one he gripped his firm butt and pulled him closer.

"Alex…what?"

"Yeah?"

He pressed himself closer to magnus and kissed a spot on his neck. Magnus smelled the way he usually did like summer and fresh grass, like smores.

Alex heard him gasp.

"I don’t suppose, I have a say in that matter?"

He nuzzled deeper into magnus neck.

"no"

"I suppose this is one of your many jokes"

"joke?"

"I am not your boyfriend, remember?"

"you aren’t"

"of course I am not"

Even though there was nothing Alex wanted more badly in this world.

It felt so good to be in Magnus’s embrace once again, even though Magnus wasn’t hugging him back, even though Magnus didn’t want him here, even though he would have to leave any second now.

But Alex would not leave without a kiss.

He raised his head to look at Magnus whose cheeks he discovered had flushed a lovely rose colour.

Also, Magnus was staring at him; Alex could see the reason behind that. Magnus must be wondering when and where Alex had lost his sanity.

He moved in to kiss him. It would have been easy for magnus to turn his head away but for some reason he let it happened. As if paralysed. Magnus’s lips were just as sweet and addictive as he remembered them. Alex kissed them tenderly, once, twice, a third time. He heard a sound escape Magnus lips. A soft sweet little moan.

It turned Alex on more than it probably should have.

He kissed him more boldly now, one hand tangled in Magnus’s hair, to pull him closer Alex swept his tongue across Magnus’s bottom lip

Somewhere in his head he knew he was going too far. That it was a miracle that he had not been pushed away yet, that Magnus just stood there motionless and took everything.

But he didn’t care. He didn’t care about the consequences. He didn’t care about the fact that Magnus wasn’t kissing him back. Even like this it was better than anything else, Alex had ever done. Tomorrow the world was ending, he would take every second he could get.

Alex pushed his tongue against Magnus’s lips. Because of reasons unbeknown to Alex he let Alex push his tongue into his mouth. His tongue touched with Magnus’s. When he pushed against it magnus held back. They fought a short war and broke apart.

"Why?" magnus asked gasping for breath. "Why are you doing this to me? What could I have possible done to you?"

Alex barely registered the meaning of the question; he was too far gone for that.

"You know" Magnus told him "You could just stop. Leave me in peace gods-dammit"

Magnus’s voice was very small as he said that.

Alex didn’t even thought about stopping. He was drunk on longing and lust. Instead he pushed magnus backwards so he fell onto the bed. He locked so very tempting the way he lay on the mattress and locked up to Alex with dishevelled hair and pink cheeks and a slightly confused expression on his face. By now Alex was hard, and the tiny voice in the back of his head that told him to stop had grown very quiet.

He climbed on top of Magnus. Hovered over him, stroked, admired his bare chest.

"that’s not…that’s not funny" magnus told him "not funny at all" he whispered.

Alex let himself sink on top of Magnus. He buried his face in Magnus’s neck, yet again, and began to suck. Magnus would have a hickey for the apocalypse.

Once he finished he looked at Magnus

"it’s not funny" he agreed

Nothing about this situation was funny.

"Then why…"

Alex grinded his body against Magnus’s. Alex was hard and the way he moved magnus just had to feel it. Magnus felt it.

Alex felt how all the muscles in Magnus’s body stiffened beneath him. Like he wanted to run, which sadly was the most probable case.

"You are…" he said "You are…"

he sounded shocked. As if the affect Magnus had on him wasn’t obvious. As if it weren’t obvious how much he yearned every little touch.

"Yes" Alex whispered against his ear. His own voice sounded sad to him.

He rocked himself against Magnus a second time. This time he felt a bulge in pants that defiantly weren’t his own.

Magnus drew a sharp intake of breath. He turned his head to the side and squeezed his eyes shut.

Alex stilled in surprise.

Was it possible that magnus had a boner?

But it could be no mistake, even when Alex let his hand wander down to feel it, the bulge stayed there.

Without the shadow of a doubt Magnus was turned on by Alex. At least to some degree.

Alex grinned, he felt like Christmas had come early.

He let himself sink back on Magnus’s chest and very slowly rolled himself against him a third time.

"you are hard magnus" he told him"

Magnus didn’t give an answer.

Alex grinded against him a fourth time. This was good, so good. five.

"you are hard for me"

Six

"Why don’t you admit it? You want me, I can feel it."

Seven

He placed a few kisses on Magnus’s shoulder.

"Why won’t you talk to me?"

Eight

All Alex needed was Magnus to do this with him. He clearly wanted to. Then it would be heaven.

"You know I didn’t thought that I would get away with my plan, to fuck you tonight."

Why was magnus so motionless? It was confusing. Alex wanted an reaction from him, any kind.

He sat up and unclasped Magnus’s belt. He pulled it out of the loops and let it drop next to the bed. Then he dipped down again to kiss a spot below his ear.

Nine

"I, as a matter fact, want you. Can you feel it?"

Ten

Slowly, very slowly magnus turned his head towards Alex’s face and he finally opened his eyes.

That they are black was the first thing to cross Alex’s mind. Magnus’s beautiful grey eyes had been darkened beyond recognition with an emotion, Alex only could describe as deep and destructive anger.

As Alex stared into Magnus’s darkened eyes he saw a deep pain in them he could not explain, he saw hatred, but the most prominent emotion was rage, a deep ire that chilled Alex to the bone and left him paralysed.

"Fuck me tonight? That’s how you want to play it?"

Magnus voice had never sounded so cold, absent was any of the warmth that he normally spoke with.

"you can have that"

It left Alex chilled to the bone, he could not move. Literally.

He had never seen Magnus this angry.

What had he done? Where was this going?

Alex realised that he had gone much too far. Now the moment had come were Magnus would push him away. Thinking about it, it was a miracle that had not happened yet. But if Magnus resented him as much as the look in his eyes suggested, why didn’t he rid himself of Alex prior than this?

Than magnus did the impossible thing. Instead of shoving Alex away, he flipped them bot over and crashed his mouth down onto Alex’s.

The shock of this twist of events didn’t serve to loosen up Alex’s paralysis. Now it was him who lay motionless and unresponsive as magnus hovered above him and kissed him. And oh- that was not a gentle kiss anymore. It was a hard kiss, almost brutal. Through his eyes, wide open with shock Alex realized that Magnus hadn’t closed his eyes either. His eyes where still open; still black, staring down into Alex’s with the same expression of bottomless anger and disdain.

The kiss was a perfect fit to the expression in magnus face. Angry, unyielding, without compromise.

Alex could not comprehend how it had come to this. He couldn’t comprehend Magnus’s reaction. He could understand anger, but not anger this deep. He couldn’t understand why magnus was kissing him, why he was kissing him like this.

One of magnus hands hand wandered down his side, the other one held Alex head in place and forced their mouth together with more force that comfortable for either of them.

Magnus’s kissed him furiously, his tongue entered Alex’s mouth, his eyes carefully watching for Alex’s expression.

Alex couldn’t move he could not think. When he kissed magnus before it was sweet and short, nothing like this. This kiss was pure hate. But it was still magnus who was kissing him and Alex still wanted him and he realized that at some point his lips had started responding magnus on their own accord. Not much. Magnus didn’t give him the room for that, but still.

The kiss was anything but pleasant and Magnus’s expression filled Alex with cold and fear. But some part of him, mayhaps the most desperate part of him didn’t want it to end. It didn’t help that the shock left Alex incapable of any rational thought.

Magnus moved away from Alex’s mouth only to bite in his neck. The bite was somehow softer than the kiss, more seductive that harmful. A lover’s bite.

A loud moan escaped Alex’s lips at that.

Magnus sat up, straddling Alex. He rolled his hips and stared him down.

Alex took a sharp intake of breath at the sensation.

"you said, that you want me." His voice still cold as ice.

Very slowly, and careful Magnus removed Alex’s belt and tossed it of the bed. All the while never breaking the eye contact.

He moved his hand to the bulge in Alex’s pants, where his boner was restrained by the jeans. Stroked it.

Alex moaned again.

"you know," magnus told him "you have brought this entirely on yourself"

He unzipped Alex’s pants and pulled them down. The underwear went close after.

Alex didn’t try to stop him, his thoughts were reduced to bit and pieces of _oh gods_ and _Magnus._

Magnus leaned down to kiss him again. Softer this time. The kiss was more seductive this time, though the emotion of anger was still present in it. The kiss was the kind of kiss that made you feel like a piece of pray who’s pursuer was savouring his victory.

The kiss took its time but at last magnus broke away.

He smiled down on Alex, a cold smile. Then he wrapped his hand around Alex’s cock.

Alex somehow regained his voice.

"What…"

Magnus cocked his head to one side.

"Hm?"

"What are you doing?"

Magnus moved his hand up and down a bit. And it felt fucking _good_.

Alex couldn’t help himself, but groan loudly, as the sensation reached him.

"Isn’t it obvious?"

Under any other circumstances Alex would have rejoiced, but magnus eyes told him, that this was toxic.

"Stop!"

"You don’t like it?"

Magnus went a bit faster, flicked his thumb across Alex’s tip. At that sweet sensation, without wanting to, Alex trusted upwards into Magnus’s hand. His body moved on its own accord, wanting more. He gasped.

"or are you simply not able to take what you deal out?"

"Why, are you doing this?"

Alex barely managed the words.

His brain was still in shock, trying and failing to comprehend what was happening to him. Never had he believed, that a situation anything like this could ever take place. He had believed Magnus far too straight to ever touch him, he had believed Magnus far too sweet-hearted and kind to ever look at anyone, let alone one of his friends, with such disdain, regardless of what happened. It made no sense. What - _oh gods what_ \- was happening?

His body on the other hand was another story altogether. The lust had taken it over. Magnus hands were sending him to heaven. On a physical level he had never felt this good. He wanted more, more, _more_. He needed it.

"Why I am doing this?" Magnus stilled his hand for a moment "You don’t know that? Well I am sure you will figure it out. After all you are not dumb" He resumed his play.

Alex didn’t have the energy to muse about that answer, as weird as it was. With every passing moment the heat in his groin was building, with every one of Magnus’s strokes the capability to think was slowly leaving Alex.

"But you clearly like this," he continued to tell Alex "so no worries"

Who would have thought that magnus was so good at this? His fingers were so skilled, always using the right amount of pressure, touching him in ways that created their very own magic. _Oh heavens…_

Child of the fertility god, should have seen this coming.

By now Alex was trusting into magnus hand in a steady rhythm, seeking the sensation he so greatly desired. His hands were gripping the bedsheets, holding on to them.

Moans were escaping his mouth, sweet, desperate little sounds that he just was not able to hold in.

That was when Magnus decided to chance position. He leaned down, using on hand to steady himself, while never letting go with the other. He leaned down until his face hovered directly above Alex’s and he could touch his lips with his in a kiss. It was the softest kind of kiss he had given Alex today.

It was soft and seductive, even sweet. Its clear intend to turn on Alex even more that he already was.

Magnus’s lips caressed his. His hand working it’s magic.

He kissed him again and again and again.

Alex moaned into his mouth, he could feel magnus smile against his lips before he broke the kiss.

Instead his mouth moved to Alex’s ear.

"You want me so much, don’t you?" He whispered

Alex could only whimper

"Are you going to come for me? Would you like that?"

Magnus moved his hand faster now.

Alex breath quickened.

Magnus kissed his jaw and then moved back to his ear.

"I think, I would like it."

Magnus moved to Alex neck, kissing his way down there. He sucked on one spot, even bit a little and liked the spot after he was satisfied with the hickey he created.

He kissed Alex again.

"Come for me, please?"

Come for Magnus? Of course he would. Inevitable. And he knew it would not take long.

Another kiss, and a second, a third, a fourth the fifth kiss was much longer that the others, but when it finally was broken Magnus sat up again and repurposed both of his hands to his task.

He stroked him, touched him, caressed him. And Alex came, spilling his cum all over Magnus hands.

Magnus leaned down and showed Alex his hand, covered in white. A dropped of cum landed on Alex nose. Magnus giggled and liked it away.

Alex was breathing hard and only was half conscious. He had never, in his life or afterlife, come anywhere to _this hard_.

Then he glanced up at Magnus smiling face and for a few moments he was truly happy. He wanted to take Magnus in his arms. He wanted to return the favour.

But then Magnus suddenly turned serious. He climbed down from Alex and stood on the floor, seemingly not caring about the huge bulge he still had in his pants.

He looked at Alex as he lay naked before him. Still shaking with the afterwaves of his orgasm.

His eyes cold as ice.

He picked up Alex’s jeans and underpants and dropped them onto Alex’s middle section.

"Dress up" His voice full of disdain.

"I truly hope, that you are gone when I return, otherwise things might get unpleasant. I can’t even look at you right now."

He turned around and marched into the bathroom, slamming the door shout behind him with such force that Alex felt the bed vibrating.

　

　

　

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And yes, I went there. Yeah...


	6. Chapter 6

The breakfast was horrid. Alex had slept poorly because of well…obvious reasons. Her mind and body were at war. Her mind told her that there was something very strange with Magnus’s behaviour and that the best course of action would be to avoid him altogether. Her body disagreed. She relived the moments of last night again and again and she wanted more, more of Magnus, she wanted all he had to offer.

Her heart was the third party. It didn’t want to stay away from Magnus and it didn’t need sex. It wanted Magnus by her side, his smile and cuddles and now that she knew that Magnus hated her -the way he looked at her last night it was the only possibility- she hurt even more than she had before. Which was a lot, so much so, that she threatened to burst into tears the moment he stepped in the breakfast room that morning.

She wanted to run away. She prayed that he would chose a table far away from where she was sitting. At least he did her that favour. She lowered her gaze and focused on the food before her. It tasted like nothing.

Ever so often she glanced at him, just to make sure he stayed where he was. She caught him _staring_ at her. He had not touched his food.

Alex just could not get a read on this boy.

He didn’t seem to have feelings for her, he even had made fun of it once. She winced at the memory. She had touched him in ways he surly had not wanted her to and he had reacted with anger… But that anger had been so much worse than appropriate, she was positive that he hated her. And this was where things got really strange and fucked up. Instead of pushing her away like any sane person he had played along with her request. In a way that made it seem like a punishment. That was some fucked up reverse psychology. It also wasn’t efficient. Alex had never felt so good or come so hard in her entire life. Her face heated up just thinking about his hands. _Oh gods._ Most punishments didn’t involve _that._

　

It took them two days to say north instead of one. The coast was a different coloured line on the horizon and the air got colder and the water darker until Alex new they had passed into Jotunheim and soon would reach the final point of their journey.

She had discovered the pleasures of sailing on a different ship than Magnus. That way at least she didn’t have to look at him.

At that point, the point when they entered enemy waters things got a little more interesting for Alex. The shapeshifter was tasked with flying ahead and scouting for all kinds of dangers and of course for Nagalfar the ship of the dead. She had to find it and report back to the ships, so that they could make plans on how to destroy it.

In the form of a hawk she went airborne, higher and higher she flew until she felt the cold wetness of the clouds. She relished the speed and the freedom that came with the new form. She turned and raced towards the shore until she saw an icy landscape beneath her.

Alex followed the coastline to the north.

High Mountains dominated the region, snow and ice covered everything. It was the very opposite of a landscape a human would choose to live in. It was cold, harsh and hostile. But despite that there were still living beings down there. Ever so often she would spot the movement of a giant in one of the valleys beneath her.

I have to warn the ships about those.

Her wings carried her mile for mile. She made sure to memorise her surroundings. She counted the giants and searched for any sign of civilisation.

She flew until she was hours ahead of the einherjar.

Alex the bird twirled in the air. Scouting was a dangerous job of course, but it had been a while since she was this free. She liked being a bird, she was happy.

That was the moment she focused her attention back on the ground. Alex almost fell from the sky. There was an army of giants, a camp that was so large that it went on to the horizon. And docked at the shore was the largest Viking longship she had ever seen, made entirely out of a strange looking, white material.

Her little hawk-heart beat so fast she was afraid, that it might burst out of her chest. Suddenly she felt like she was flying nowhere high enough. She felt much too close to the ship of doom. _Where is Loki? Is he going to sense my presence? Are the giants going to see me?_

She forced herself to act calm if the eyes of a giant where indeed on her she had to act like a normal bird. She could _not_ act like she was fleeing.

Alex tilted her wings ever so slightly and flew a graceful curve over the enemy army absorbing every small detail until she was out of eyeshot from the camp. At that point she picked up her speed and fled the place of horrors as fast as her wings could carry her.

She needed to warn the ships. They had to stop their journey and discuss strategy based on the informations Alex had gathered.

She was out of breath by the point she spotted Valhalla’s army again. What she saw surprised her. The boats where anchored at what seemed to be a random point on the ever-same-looking coastline. They should not be anchoring, they should be making their way north.

She dive-bombed onto the deck of their lead ship, where she changed back into a human.

"Alex!" Halfborn stood next to her.

"What we doing here? Why have we stopped? "

"We lost two kids"

"What? How?"

"A shapeshifting giant, he had the form of a little bird, like you" He gestured at Alex "Then he took on the form of a dragon, he snatched a warrior in each paw and flew away. Straight in there." He gesture towards a hole in cliff above them.

"A giant’s lair"

"Aye"

"And we try to save them"

"Aye"

"It’s a trap"

"That’s very likely"

　

How exactly Alex had managed to get herself into the rescue mission she wasn’t sure. She defiantly wasn’t eager to be a part of that, especially since Magnus was a part of it as well. Sadly at some point one of the kids got an idea.

"Alex can shapeshift into an even larger dragon!"

He pointed his finger at her; Alex didn’t even know his name. The other warriors nodded appreciatory and that was that.

They found the missing einherjar in a cavern not far from the entrance. They were bound and gagged but they didn’t seem to be hurt. It was too easy, much too easy. It was painfully obvious that there was a trap, but the nature of the trap was still a mystery.

They hid at the wall of the cavern and tried to make sense of it. They came up empty.

Eventually one of the girls, Julia, lost her patience.

"This is stupid! The giant might as well be gone and all we doing is sitting here and waiting for his return!"

She ran to the prisoners. Nothing happened.

"See? It’s ok"

She freed the first kid pretty fast, but she had trouble with the bounds of the second. Alex ran to help her. Together and with the use of Julia’s knife they managed to get the girl out of her bonds just before the ground started shaking.

"Come on! Let’s go!" someone from their group yelled.

The ground shook more violently and stones started to rain from the ceiling.

"RUN" Alex pushed the little girl in the back.

They ran for the cavern exit, but Alex was the one farthest from it and she was to slow. The ground cracked beneath her feet. Thousands of little lines ran through the stone, like a spider web.

And then she fell.

　

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I belive that is what is called a Rick-hanger. I am very sorry.


	7. Chapter 7

Alex lay on her back. Everything hurt. She coughed to get the dust out of her lungs. Those hurt the most. She figured she was lucky that she was still alive and was not hit by a falling boulder of some sort.

"Alex"

"Are you OK?"

"ALEX"

She heard the voices of her friends calling for her. As the dust settled she could see the contours of the hole she had fallen trough. It was really far above her. If she had not been an einherjar she would have been dead, ironic as this was.

"ALEX"

She wanted to answer but all that came out was a slight wheezing sound. She blinked and tried to get a clear picture of her surroundings.

"Are you down there? Please answer, ALEX"

"ALEX"

The cavern rumbled again. The walls shook and it rained little stones.

"BACK"

"Away from the edge!"

"RUN, RUN"

"Get the fuck out of here!"

"What are you DOING?!"

"Alex"

"RUN"

"We can’t leave her!" _Don’t leave me_

"She is dead! The cavern won’t hold up!!"

"NO"

The edges of Alex’s hole broke away and the rocks tumbled down, a new cloud of dust disabled her breathing.

She might have heard a scream but she could not be sure, the falling boulders were much too loud.

Then the rumbling became less and less until the cavern was as silent as a grave.

The others. Where are they?

She heard someone chough beside her. Relief flooded her. _I am not alone._ She manged to crawl over to them.

There covered in dust and barely conscious lay Magnus. Her love, her doom, of course it was him. Who else? Fate hated her after all.

A particular bad coughing attack made her collapse again.

They laid there for a while, side by side, until the air cleared and their bodies had recovered from the impact.

At last Alex sat up and looked down at Magnus.

"What happened up there?"

He tried to rub his face clean.

"The other ran for the exit, I was to near to the rim of the hole when it collapsed, I fell after you."

"Hm"

"Are you hurt?"

"I am fine. More or less."

He actually smiled at that.

"That’s good," he coughed again "for a moment, after you fell, you now I thought I had lost you" His expression was grim at that.

"For a second I too believed, that that was the end of it."

"I am glad it wasn’t" Magnus smile warmed every cell in her body.

"What are we going to do now?"

"Try to survive? Try to get out of here?"

"Yes Captain Obvious, how?" She asked

"No clue"

Magnus struggled to sit up beside her.

"There are three exit tunnels, but I don’t suppose either of us can walk at this point." She told him.

"I suppose you are right"

And somewhere here are the giants. Well at least one.

"The giants have not made a good trap." He said "They got two prisoners but they lost two as well."

"Please don’t say that, we are not prisoners yet"

"You’re right. No prisoners, let’s keep it like that"

"Were do you think we should go?" She asked

He tilted his head and warily studied one of the exit tunnels.

"That’s a good question." He furrowed his eyebrows "Mayhaps we should climb. I am not sure if it we can do it, but it seems like the way that’s the least probable to be a trap. "

Alex looked up the hole they fell through.

"We can at least try"

"Yeah"

"I mean if anyone can do it we can! We are einherjar for the gods sake!"

He smirked

"I like the way you’re thinking"

As it turned out climbing was the easy part. But the earth giant had changed the geographic of the lair and where the exit had been was a dam solid wall.

Magnus next to her let lose a string of Norse cuss words, any old Viking would have been proud of.

They had no choice other than turn around and wander into the giant’s lair.

"I am unsure" Magnus said "If it would be good or bad to find that giant"

"You mean that he might be our only way out of here"

"He could have closed all the exits, in that case we need to get him to open one for us."

Alex nodded.

"Of course he won’t do it voluntarily."

"He won’t" Alex played with her garrotte "but I am sure I can get him to do it" an evil grin made its way on her face.

Magnus laughed

"You know I am low-key afraid of you when you look like that"

"You should be!"

He laughed more

"Idiot!"

They walked a few meters in silence.

Alex then realized something

"Magnus, why did you fall into the hole with me?"

"Because I was close to the edge when it collapsed, obviously."

"Yes…No…I mean: _Why_ were you close to the edge?"

"Where exactly are you going with this?"

"I heard you and the others talking. They thought me dead and wanted to leave me behind. But there was one voice that wanted to stay. That voice was _you_."

"Yes that voice was me." The cavern wall seemed suddenly very interesting to him. "I don’t see why you are surprised"

"I just thought…"

"You know I would never leave you behind, do you?"

His voice was firm yet soft. _He means this._ She just didn’t understand this boy. He seemed to care about her, but he also seemed to hate her.

"Magnus?" She finally asked

"Yeah?"

"If we die in here…"

"Don’t say tha-"

"If we die in here." She interrupted him. "There is a question I have to ask you"

He looked at her from the side eyes all serious.

"Ask away"

"Why did you do it?"

"Did what?"

"What you did…" She felt a blush creeping up her neck "Two nights ago, at the hotel."

She saw him tense, felt the change of atmosphere. _Now there comes awkward_.

"I suppose you are angry with me. I understand that, I-"

"No I am not"

"You are _not_ angry with me? Alex I… I _took_ you. Without your consent, I took you. I am even angry at myself."

"Oh" Alex felt even more confused than ever.

"Yeah" He kicked away a little stone on his way.

"Look, Magnus I started it, I …" Her voice broke "I _enjoyed_ it; I am just confused, I just don’t understand _why_ "

He looked at her more closely.

"You really don’t know." He sounded somehow amazed. "Then why did you come to me in the first place?"

Alex chose to strategically ignore his question.

"I don’t know!" She said "I don’t know why you would do anything like that why would you touch me. Fuck me with your hands." _Oh gods I said that._

Magnus next to her made a choking sound.

"The point is, I have no idea" She continued "I mean it’s blatantly obvious you hate me."

"HATE YOU?" He sounded genially shocked "Alex I don’t hate you, I…That’s ridiculous why would you even think this?"

Oh dear, just when I thought I could not get more confused.

"Well when you…when we _did_ it. The way you looked at me."

"Oh yeah." He winced "I did hate you in that moment."

"Right"

"But I don’t really hate you, I don’t generally hate you."

"You don’t hate me?"

"No Alex" he stopped for a moment. "You are so confusing, I mean it is really the other way around. YOU" He pointed at her "Are the one that hates ME" He pointed at himself.

If Alex had had a drink in her mouth she would have spit it out. _What is this man thinking? Is he insane?_ There was no reason to think she would hate _Magnus,_ it was more than obvious that she loved him!

She must have been quiet for too long.

"You do hate me." He told her again, like he was trying to assure her in that non-existent emotion.

"Magnus… I don’t hate you"

"But you do."

"I have no idea why you would think that."

He stared at her disbelieving.

"Okay" she said "Why would I kiss you, when I were hating you?"

"That’s exactly the point! You kiss me because you are hating me. What other reason would there be?"

Is he kidding me?

"Magnus, hate to break it to you but you are not making any sense."

He squinted his eyes at her

"You are going there again are you?" He sounded sad and also a bit angry. "You want me to say it, don’t you? Make fun of me again? Really Alex? Here? Really?"

"Magnus, I have no idea what you are talking about, I would never make fun of you!"

"Yeah" He rolled his eyes "Of course not" His lough was cold and bitter.

"Magnus…"

"Fine then. I will say it for you." He took a deep breath and swallowed "You kissed me, and you touched me in order to mess with my emotions, because you knew it would hurt me."

She could only stare.

"That’s not enough? Ok. It would hurt me because I like you. A fact that you seem incredible funny. And that is a kind of behaviour you only show towards a person whom you deeply despise."

A tear rolled down Magnus’s cheek. She wanted to wipe it away, console him. An ice cold feeling, the begin of a realisation burn through her lower stomach. A ball of emotion formed in her throat.

"Like me?" was all she could get out.

He took two steps away from her.

"That’s still not enough for you?" He choked out "What do you _want_ from me?"

"Magnus…"

"No" He angrily wiped his tears away "No more" He turned his back to her.

Alex didn’t understand anything. Her world had been turned upside down, but she knew could not leave it at that.

"Magnus" she said "Magnus, please I didn’t knew you liked me."

She couldn’t believe it either. Chance dictates that he would never like her.

"Funny" He murmured. His voice was thick with irony.

"Magnus, if you really like me. How should I have known?"

He turned to her.

"Because I _told_ you so!" He snapped at her "Remember?"

"No, I don’t!" She was getting angry as well.

"You don’t? You and me, a rose, your door, you screamed at me, threw a pot after me."

The cold feeling in Alex’s gut slowly turned to ice. _Wrong, this is all wrong_

"That was a bet, you lost to Mallory, Magnus, not the reality! She made you ask me out!"

He just stared at her.

"Alex… I have never lost a bet against Mallory; I don’t bet against Mallory, I am not that insane."

The lump in her throat finally won. She felt the tears streaming down her face.

"Alex…Shhhhh Alex" _His voice is so soft_

He stroked her arm.

"We are talking about the same thing are we? The thing back in March?"

Alex nodded and suddenly the words came.

"T.J. nocked on my door, a few minutes before you came in. He told me that you lost a bet to Mallory and that you had to ask me out. And then you came and you told me you loved me. No one has ever said that to me Magnus. This sentence, I love you. And then you said it and you didn’t mean it and it hurt so much, I…I am sorry"

His eyes had been fixated on her while she spoke.

"There was no bet, Alex I swear it, I meant every single word." He softly tiltet her chin upwards "I don’t know why T.J. would do something like this, but I would _never_ play a prank like than on you. Please believe me."

"I am sorry"

"No, Alex. Don’t be. I am just happy that I fell for a nice person after all."

"You really thought that I kissed you in order to hurt you, didn’t you? You think I would ever do something like that?"

His shoulders slumped.

"Well Alex, I didn’t exactly knew what I was supposed to think"

"I see"

"But Alex, I still have to ask you something. If you didn’t do all that to tease me, why did you do it?"

Her heart had been beating fast before, but now it threatened to burst out of her chest.

I have to tell him. It will be Ok, he said he liked me that way. But still. Confess my feelings, that I lust so deeply after him that I can’t control my own actions… Oh Gods.

She liked her lips. Magnus stood so near to her. And she had to confess. She had to. It was only fair. This was the moment.

"Magnus…there is a reason. See I touched you and I kissed you and I am sorry."

"Yes?"

"I did it because I wanted to. I wanted it so much, that I lost control. I… I…"

Magnus pulled her closer, his nose almost touching hers.

"Yes" He _whispered_

"I am in love with you Magnus, I love you. I love you so much, that it physically hurts, when I am not with you."

His lips moved but no tone was coming out. His eyes looked into hers with complete awe.

"Magnus?"

"Yes?"

"You told me you loved me three months back, what about right now?"

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her, his eyes never leaving hers.

"I tried everything to lose these feelings but every day, when I woke up they were stronger than the day before. Yes Alex Fierro. I am yours _right now._ I love you. I love you, Alex Fierro and I swear by every god out there that l mean it."

Alex felt light, like she was floating. She pressed her body to Magnus’s. He was so near and he was hers.

"Can I kiss you?" Alex asked before she could think about it.

Magnus smiled, wide and happy, then he tilted his head and pulled her even closer.

Oh my gods

Then very softly he claimed her lips with his.

His lips were exactly like she remembered them, only better. Better, because now they moved with hers as a perfect duo. Soft and warm and firm. Soon every thought was gone from her mind. Every thought except maybe _more_ , _yes_ and _Magnus._ He was her oxygen. Electricity seemed to drive every body cell to high alert. Forget the cliché fireworks kiss, this was better.

They broke apart for air, only for Magnus to pull her into a tight hug. _He smells so good._

"Would you be my girlfriend? And of course be sometimes my boyfriend?" He whispered in her ear.

"If you will be my boyfriend"

"I would like nothing more."

"Magnus?"

"Hmmm?"

"Does it bother you? My gender changes?"

" _Alex_ , I love you! _You!_ Not your gender! It does not matter to me. So when you are a dude we will be a gay couple and when you are a girl we will be a straight couple. What’s the big deal? I only want to be with you."

"Thanks, Magnus" She had never felt this happy before.

She pulled him into another kiss. They both could not stop grinning, so it went a bit clumsy. But it felt perfect anyhow.

She laced her fingers through his.

"Come on Maggie! Let’s go capture a giant!"

"Don’t call me Maggie!" He didn’t even manage to sound angry.

"You are the one, who wanted to be with me"

Suddenly his arms were around her again and pulled her close.

"What have I been thinking…?" He trailed of.

Then his mouth was on hers again. His lips gently caressed her; his thumb drew circles on her cheek. Her heart stuttered as she wrapped her arms around him. He kissed her so very tenderly and it made her feel so loved. He was so _warm._ She had always known, ever since their first kiss that his lips, his touch, were the one real heaven and she was not disappointed. His kiss sent heat through her body. Everything that was not him suddenly seemed too cold. She shivered and he pulled her closer.

How was I able to live without him?

His hand made its way into her hair and she ran her tongue along his bottom lip. He trembled beneath her fingers and pulled away.

"You are sure you are ok, with this? Because what happened at the hotel…" His voice was genuine care.

"Yes I am. Kiss me again you idiot."

"Gladly"

And then his lips were on hers again. She pushed her tongue against his lips and he let her explore his mouth, pushed his own against hers and battled her all the way until she felt his tongue enter her.

They kissed until they were out of breath and had to break apart.

They looked at each other for a moment, then Magnus laughed, loud and happy. He twirled her around too the music of a song only he could hear.

Hand in hand they made their way down the corridor.

They found the giant later that day, he put up a fight, but they were unstoppable. And when he found a very deadly clay cutter wrapped around his neck suddenly he was much more cooperative.

The sun was about to set, when the both of them stepped out into the wilderness of Jotunheim. Alex, the dragon, took Magnus on her back and flew into the sky.

She had a suspicion, whose doing this misunderstanding had been. She would bet her potter’s wheel that the responsibility lay with Loki himself. Heads were going to roll for this.

　

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the last chapter. It is also my favorite chapter, it was really fun to write this long dialog. I hope you all liked the story.


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